The Negro's church,.

206

The Negro's Church

with only $3,472 at their disposal. It is true that many of
the 609 churches raised relatively large amounts, as is pointed
out in the chapter on finance, and as will be indicated again
later in this chapter. On the other hand, the majority of
them raised relatively small sums. The average salary paid
to each of the 344 pastors of the southern churches of this
study was $1,268. The average for all salaries was $1,492,
only $224 more than the average for the pastors. Not only
must most of the Negro southern churches of this study rely
upon a paid staff of one man, the pastor, but in most instances
there must be reliance upon a poorly paid pastor.
Economic Status of the Race in Relation to Overchurching
It is common knowledge that the Negro church is supported for the most part by domestic workers and by common and semi-skilled laborers. To say that approximately
80 per cent. or more of the Negroes in the urban South belong to these two classes would be conservative. Perhaps the
most recent statement as to what the Negro common laborer
receives in wages in the seven southern cities of this study is
given by Paul K. Edwards, Professor of Economics in Fisk
University. He gives the "wages paid male Negro laborers as
of about January 1, 1930, in certain types of occupations in
which large numbers of Negroes were employed."
In Memphis, these Negroes received weekly wages ranging
from $15 to $20; in Birmingham, from $12 as porter in a
store to $36 as worker in the coal mines; in Houston, from
$21 to $27 as laborers in cotton compresses, manufacturing
and construction; in New Orleans, a weekly wage ranging
from $15 to $20; in Atlanta, from $10 to $14 as construction workers to $18 as truck drivers; the laborers in Charleston received weekly from $5, the lowest paid the porter in a
store, to $21, the highest paid a stevedore; and in Richmond,